First up, award-winning epic fantasy, THE PRINCE’S MAN is on sale this week for $0.99 (or the equivalent) in ALL outlets across all countries where it is available – if you haven’t yet picked up a copy, now is your chance – one week only.

Rustam Chalice, dance tutor, gigolo and spy, loves his life just the way it is, so when the kingdom he serves is threatened from within, he leaps into action. Only trouble is, the spy master, Prince Hal, teams him up with an untouchable aristocratic assassin who despises him.

And to make matters worse, she’s the most beautiful woman in the Five Kingdoms.

Plunged into a desperate journey over the mountains, the mismatched pair struggle to survive deadly wildlife, the machinations of a spiteful god – and each other.

They must also keep alive a sickly elf they need as a political pawn. But when the elf reveals that Rustam has magic of his own, he is forced to question his identity, his sanity and worst, his loyalty to his prince.

For in Tyr-en, all magic users are put to death.

Award winning novel, THE PRINCE’S MAN, has been described as ‘James Bond meets Lord of the Rings’ – a sweeping tale of spies and deadly politics, inter-species mistrust and magic phobia, with an underlying thread of romance.

“I enjoyed this book – particularly the gorgeous detail that painted a beautiful picture of the world without slowing down the pace of the story. There are several areas where the description simply blew me away, like the world of Shiva. Ooh, so pretty.”

“This newly created world is firm, there are no gaps or jumps of reasoning. One creature, idea, magic or bit of history flows right into the next. Characters that appear substantial at the beginning of the book do nothing but grow and evolve as their backstory unfolds behind them.”

My pricing question

My question is this: how does a book suddenly gain visibility as a result of a price change?

The reason for my question is this: it has been a very long time since I made any promotional effort on behalf of THE PRINCE’S MAN, for a number of reasons:

Time. I’ve been working feverishly on the sequel.

My marketing efforts have all been targeted on my urban fantasy books, because they are in KDP select, which is far easier to produce a quick promo than a book that is published in many different places.

THE PRINCE’S MAN has, until recently, been a good, consistent seller all on its own.

Toward the tail end of last year it began to slide down the Amazon rankings. As a result, it lost visibility, and come last month, for the first time ever, it didn’t sell a single copy, so the time has come to give it the nurturing it deserves. I duly set about arranging this promo (the first in nearly 2 years for this title), and, as a result of previous issues with price changes and world time differences meaning I lost a couple of booked ad slots (not for this title, but still annoying), I decided to drop the price in plenty of time. Every outlet takes a different amount of time for such changes to filter through, so I initiated the price drop on Tuesday evening, ready for the first ads on Friday.

And guess what?

In no time at all, it began selling again! No ads, no promo, nothing obvious to start the ball rolling, other than the actual price change.

I have absolutely NO idea how it happened, and if anyone has the answer, please share!

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2 comments

I can’t explain the mysteries of marketing, pricing, or much of anything else sales-related, but I’m glad to read of your success. I plan to reduce the price of my first Wake-Robin Ridge book to 99 cents as soon as I release the 3rd, Harbinger. Which I hope will be in May. I’m considering WRR at the 99 cent price permanently, as a “funnel” book to draw people into the series. Haven’t totally decided yet. I’ll be interested in knowing if your book continues to pick up sales throughout the promo. I sure HOPE so! Good luck, Debby. And PLEASE advertise your promotion on The Write Stuff, so we can help you get the word out. 🙂

Sorry for the delayed answer – I’ve been working in Ireland today, with no internet.
Yes, I’m considering the same thing, once the series is complete, but that will be a while, and as we know, the book marketing scene is still changing quite rapidly, so I’m not wasting too much time on it!
Will let you know how sales go after the promo ends, and I’m about to head on over to The Write Stuff; I just didn’t want to butt in on your Friday Guest Blogger 😀